I’m running SUSE 13.2 and KDE with pulse audio, and have two sound outputs, HDMI and analog out.
Whenever I first startup the computer and log in, the volume of the HDMI is always at 100% level. I haven’t checked to see if this happens with the analog output. When I go to set the volume in kmix, the volume level indicated on the slider is where I last left it, say 50% level. If I drag the slider even just the slightest, the volume drops to that level (around 50%). There is apparently a discontinuity between the volume control and what the volume actually is. The volume level is saved between reboots, but maybe the hardware resets and defaults to 100%, but it is not being set during boot up or login. Is there a way to have the hardware to be set to the values saved by kmix or the volume control automatically during boot or login?
Okay, I tried that, now I have no sound at all. Mixer only shows dummy output. I don’t know how to put the sound devices back in. I have on the motherboard Asrock Purity Sound based on Realtek ALC1150 which provides the analog output and Intel Haswell HD audio which provides the HDMI output. YaST shows two sound devices: Haswell HD Audio Controller and Intel Corporation. I don’t know which driver works with the Realtek chip.
I’m not sure how I did it but I finally got the sound working again. Now I’m back to my original problem where the volume setting for HDMI out does not stick between reboots.
Well, the volume setting should normally get remembered.
Are you maybe using phonon-backend-vlc? That has a bug in that causes the overall volume to be raised to 100% whenever there’s a notification.
Rather use the default gstreamer backend with PulseAudio, you can switch in “Configure Desktop”->Multimedia->Audio and Video Settings->Backend, or just uninstall phonon-backend-vlc.
It’s using Phonon Gstreamer backend. Another thing has happened since I fiddled with it. In “Configure Desktop”->Multimedia->Audio and Video Settings" it’s showing three HDMI devices: HDMI, HDMI 2, and HDMI 3. I only get sound if I set it to use HDMI 3 out. My computer has only one HDMI port, so I don’t know why it shows three, but HDMI and HDMI 2 are grayed out in the device preference tab. It also shows HDMI, HDMI 2 and HDMI 3 in the profile drop-down in audio hardware setup tab. I’m pretty sure it used to only have one HDMI device listed and no 2 or 3. I’d like to get it back to just showing HDMI and Analog like it used to.
This (having multiple HDMI showing when PC has only one port) is very common.
wrt volume savings not being saved, to quote from an alsa developer, if this happens after reboot, it’s likely the wrongly saved mixer state. There are a few layers saving/restoring the mixer state, alsactl invoked via udev, PulseAudio, and kmix.
A possible fix would be to clean up the config. Go to runlevel 3 once, login as root, kill all pending Pulse Audio processes (if any). Then adjust via “alsamixer -c0”, and run “alsactl store”. This resets the mixer restored via alsactl.
For Pulse Audio, remove ~/.pulse and ~/.config/pulse directories (if they exist).
I tried those things, and the volume is still at maximum on a cold start, except now the volume control is showing maximum instead of the last setting. Also, the screen is now going black for a moment during the startup splash.
Does setting “flat-volumes = no” in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf help?
It might be that some other application (than phonon-backend-vlc) you start during login requests a volume of 100%. With PulseAudio’s “flat-volumes” default, this would lead to the overall volume being set to the maximum.
I had set “flat-volumes = no” in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf early on to keep from getting blasted whenever I played something. What else can I do to diagnose the audio and investigate why the black screen during login? Odd how it started at the same time I did a change to runlevel 3 and ran the alsamixer and alsactl commands.
That actually shouldn’t happen (unless you use phonon-backend-vlc).
I’m finally using PulseAudio since a few weeks now (with the default “flat-volumes = yes”), and everything is fine, this has never happened.
Although I still find it irritating that raising the volume for one single app may also raise the overall volume, i.e. how flat-volumes works.
What else can I do to diagnose the audio
Well, do any applications show up in KMix’s “Playback Screens” tab?
Try to lower their volume, as I said they might raise it, but then that shouldn’t happen with “flat-volumes = no”.
Is “Restore Volume on Restart” enabled or disabled in KMix’s settings? Try to toggle it.
Try removing ~/.kde4/share/apps/kmix and ~/.kde4/share/config/kmixrc and ~/.kde4/share/config/kmixctrlrc, that should set back all settings including the volumes to the default.
Also try to remove ~/.kde4/share/config/phonondevicesrc, that might get rid of your additional HDMI outputs.
Try to create a fresh user account and see whether you can reproduce the same problem there.
Try to run “sudo /usr/sbin/alsactl store” when having set the volume lower. Does this keep it low after reboot?
Maybe try to disable PulseAudio as a test. If you use HDMI, you might have to setup that as default card in YaST though.
And check the volume controls in YaST.
That’s all I can think of for the moment. Maybe something helps…
and investigate why the black screen during login? Odd how it started at the same time I did a change to runlevel 3 and ran the alsamixer and alsactl commands.
You mean the screen gets black for a short moment while the KDE splash screen is showing during login?
That happens when KDE (Kscreen) switches the resolution to the configured one, so that’s “normal”.
If you don’t want to change the resolution anyway, remove the folder ~/.kde4/share/apps/kscreen/ that should also prevent the screen from getting black. Or disable KScreen altogether in “Configure Desktop”->“Startup and Shutdown”->“Service Manager”.